KPJ Healthcare Berhad

RM6.7bil boost for Northern Corridor

Projects secured for four states created 9,800jobs over six months.

PETALING JAVA: The government secured RM6.7 billion worth of investments through four major projects in four Northern Corridor states in the first half of 2014.

The four projects, one from each of the four states created 9,800 jobs over the past six months especially in the tourism and manufacturing sectors.

This was revealed at the conclusion of the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority's (NC1A) 12th council meeting chaired by Prime Minister DatukSeri Najib Abdul Razak yesterday.

The NCIA is the statutory body responsible for development programmes in the Northern Corridor, which focused on developing assembly and test operations for the past 40 years.

"Though there is a need to evolve to higher industry segment, we should not forsake our four ­decade ­old manufacturing base in the pursuit of these higher technological skills.

"Instead we, at Northern Corridor, have been re­looking at designing a completely new manufacturing ecosystem by venturing into new growth sectors with the likes of medical devices," NCIA chief executive Datuk Redza Rafiq said after exchanging the collaborative agreements with the four firms.

The four projects are a private hospital in Perlis by KPJ Healthcare Berhad;an integrated " medical wellness" resort in Teluk Bahang, Penang by Senja Aman Holdings Sdn Bhd;a manufacturing facility for highend  surgical gloves and medical devices in Kulim Hi-Tech Park in Kedah by Sentienx Sdn Bhd;and a factory manufacturing medical gloves in Perak by Exco Medi Glove Sdn Bhd.

Redza said NCIA has also collaborated with private hospitals to participate in medical and healthcare exhibitions to further strengthen
the medical tourism sector in the Northern Corridor, with the ultimate aim of building business linkages in the new target markets like Bangladesh, Myanmar and Cambodia.

Redza said this will reduce Malaysia's dependency on the Indonesian market while encouraging hospitals to build their capability in specialized fields like oncology.